Robert hardie



2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Modem R. HARDIE. ,POWER GHARGING DEVICE.

No. 580,827.Y

Patented Apr. 13,-1897,

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ROBERT IIARDIE, OF ROME, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE GENERAL OOMPRESSEDAIR COMPANY, OF NEYV YORK," N. Y.

POWER-CHARGING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NOo 580,827, dated April13, 189'?. Application filed September 2, 1896. Serial No. 604,622. (Nomodel.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT HARDIE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Rome, in the county of Oneida and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Power-Ohargin g Devices;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to charging devices for air-storage motor-cars andis in the nature of an improvement on the charging valve or devicedisclosed in my United States Patent No. 577,024, issued to me of dateFebruary 16, 1897, entitled Charging device for airstor age motor-cars.

In so far as the charging function is concerned the principle ofconstruction and the details of the mechanism are in my presentapplication substantially identical with my said former patent, butadditional means are provided whereby poweris rendered available formoving the valve. These devices are designed to be used for chargingstorage-reservoirs up to a pressure of two thousand pounds Vor more persquare inch, and hence with the construction shown in my former case itwas difficult to handle the valve. By my present invention I overcomethe said diiiculty and afford a valve which is easy to operate and isquick in its action.

To the ends above noted, my invention consists of the novel devices andcombinations of devices hereinafter described, and defined in theclaims.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein, likenotations referring to like parts throughout the several views- Figure 1is a vertical longitudinal section through the charging device or valvemechanism with some parts broken away and some parts shown in elevation,the valve proper being shown in what may be regarded either as itsinitial position or its final position or the positions taken before thecharging has been begun and after the same has been completed. Fig. 2 isa detail in sectional perspective with the valve in the position shownin Fig. 1 for showing the relation of the valve to the bleeding-duct inthe chest or casing. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. l, but with thevalve proper shown in charging position for drawing off the air fromreservoir No. 1 of the local battery at the charging-station anddelivering the same to the storage system on the car. Fig. 4 is a view,chieiiy in perspective, but partly in vertical and longitudinal section,with some portions broken away for showing the relations of the ports inthe valve and the valve-chest when the valve proper is at the fourthstep of its movement toward the right or in position to draw the airfrom the last-tapped member of the battery of reservoirs at the localcharging-station.

For the purposes of this case it has not been deemed necessary to showeither the car or the local battery of reservoirs at thecharging-station. It will be understood, of course, that the saidbattery of reservoirs, at the local charging station, are themselvescharged from a suitable compressor located either at the said station orelsewhere and in communication therewith. The charging device disclosedin this and my former patent is of such construction as to permit themembers of the local battery of reservoirs to be tapped in succession,while permitting the compressor to continue to run. During the time thatthe charge is being drawn from the members of said battery up to, butnot including, the last tapped of the series the compressor can continueto deliver to all the members of said battery in advance of the memberthereof being tapped by the charging device, and when the last member ofthe battery is being tapped by the charging device the compressor candeliver, through a bypass, directly to the storage on the car. After thecharge has been completed the valve may be thrown back into its initialor iin-al position, and the proper connections will be established tobleed the coupling-pipes to the car for permitting the separation to bereadily made without noise.

W'ith so much of the action premised the construction may be morebriefly described and more readily understood.

In respect to the valve-chest it will be convenient to distinguish thebase portion a, the top portion a', and the heads or end pieces ICO a2as, respectively. The parts d a' are formed as a cylindrical castingsuitably bored out and the end pieces or caps d2 d3 applied thereto inany suitable way, as by screw-bolts a4. The upper or top part a of thevalve-chest casting is provided with a raised portion d5, lfor a purposewhich will presently appear.

In the interior of the valve-chestis mounted a valve o and a pair ofpistons c c2, all carried on a common rod c3. The piston c is spacedapart from the valve b by a sleevelike projection b', projecting fromthe body of said valve. The piston c2 is directly adjacent to the leftend of the valve b. The said valve h andthe said pistons c' and c2divide the interior of the main-valve chest into three chambers, to wit,a central chamber f and end chambers f' and f2, respectively, outward ofthe respective pistons o' and c2. The valve b works on a suitable sea-tb2, which at its right-end portion is provided with a series of portsnumbered from 1 to 5,'

inclusive, and near its central portion is provided with a port b3,which leads to the outlet or pipe connection b4 for the motor-carcoupling. Of the ports 1, 2, 3,4, and 5 at the right-end portion of theseat the member 5 is intended for connection with the compressor and theother members 1, 2, 3, and 4 connect with corresponding members of thelocal battery of reservoirs. (Not shown.)

The valve b is provided with a series of annular ports numbered 1 to 6,inclusive, of which the members 1 to 5, inclusive, correspond to and areintended for cooperation with the ports numbered 1 to 5 in the valve*seat b2. The port 6 in the valve Z9 cooperates with the port b3 in theseat and with bleeding-duct sections ti and 6b, respectively, formed onesection in the valve and the other in the casing, as shown in Figs. 1and 2, for bleeding` the car-pipe connections when the valve is in itsinitial or nal position, as shown in Fig. 1. The said valve ZJ isprovided with an inlet-port b5 near its right end, which communicateswith a longitudinal chamber h6 in the valve. The said chamber or passageL intersects all of the annular ports numbered 1 to 5, inclusive, in thesaid valve. The numbered ports 1 to 5 in the valveseat and the numberedports 1 to 5 in the valve are in inverse relation to each other and areso spaced apart that wheneverthe inlet-port b5 of the valve is inregistration with any given numbered port of the seat the valveport ofcorresponding number will be in registration with the outlet-port b3 ofthe seat leading to the car charging connections. Hence it is obvious,supposing the initial position of the valve to be as shown in Fig. 1,that by moving the valve toward the right, one step after another insuccession, the ports 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the seat may be successivelyput into communication with the outlet-port b3 and the connectionstherefrom to the storage-reservoirs on the car. In this way, therefore,the battery of local reservoirs at the charging-station may besuccessively tapped. lVhen the valve b reaches the fourth step of itsright-hand movement, so as to bring the inlet b5 of the valve intoregistration with the port 4 of the seat, by-pass sec tions 5 and 5b,formed one section in the seat and the other in thevalve, will permitthe supply from the compressor, through port 5 to pass into the inlet b5of the valve and go thence,with the charge from battery-reservoi r No.4, to the storage-reservoirs on the car. After the valve is thrown backto its initial or starting position, as shown in Fig. 1, the portnumbered 6 in the valve and the bleeding-duct sections (ifL 6b willpermit the air in the car connections to escape, as hitherto noted. i

The actions so far traced are common to this and the valvemechanismshown in my prior patent above identified. For the purpose of renderingpower available to operate this valve I have added the pistons c c2 andthe other parts, which will now be noted. The spacing-collar b' on thevalve b is of a length to span all the numbered ports 1 to 5, inclusive,of the valve-seat when the valve is in its initial or final position, asshown in Fig. 1, and the by-pass section 5fL extends to the right beyondthe compressor inlet-port 5 of the seat. Hence in all positions of thevalve the central chamber f of the chest is in communication, directlyor indirectly, with the compressor through port 5, or, otherwise stated,contains air under pressure.

The top of the raised part a5 of the valvechest casting serves as a seatg for a small controlling-valve h. The seat g is provided with a centralduct or port g@ leading to the central chamber f of the main-valvechest, and is also provided with a pair of ports g2, one on each side ofthe central port g', which ports g2 lead, respectively, one to thechamber j" and the other tothe chamber fgof the mainvalve chest. Thesaid ports g2 are shown as connecting with said chambers f' and f2 bymeans of pipes g3 and passages g4 in the top portion a of themain-valve-chest casting. The controlling-valve h is of asize to spanthe three ports g and g2 of the seat and is provided with a cavity h' ofthe proper length to connect all three of said ports when the said valveis central, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. The top portion of thecontrolling-valve 7L is of the proper form for cooperation with a covcrh2 to hold a diaphragm h3. The cavity 7b4 under the diaphragm h3communicates constantly, through a small duct h5, with the cavity h ofthe valve. The diaphragm h3 is provided with a plunger h6, which Worksout through the cover h2 and aga-inst a resistanceplate LT, carried bycorner-posts hs, rising from the seat-casting a5. inasmuch as the cavity77,' constantly communicates with the central chamber f of themain-valve chest by means of the central port or duct g in the seat g,it follows that the diaphragm h3 is constantly subject on its underlsurface to valve-chest IOS IIO

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pressure, and thereby the said diaphragm h3 and the plunger h6, incooperation with the resistance-plate hr", constitute a counterbalancefor holding the controlling-valve h down to its seat g. The cavity h inthe controllingvalve 7i is, in cross-section, only equal to the smallports g2 or g' in the seat for said valve. Hence the area of thecounterbalancing device which is subject to huid-pressure is greaterthan the area subject to pressure on the face of the valve, andtherefore the counterbalancing device will hold the valve down to itsseat.

The rod c3 of the main valve connects, by a pin c4, with the lower endof a lever c5. The upper end of said lever c5 connects, by pin c, withrod c7. The rod c7 connects with a handlever C8, provided withspring-pawl lock-lever o9. The lever c8 is pivoted at its lower end tothe base-plate of a lock-segment c10,.provided with notches adapted tobe engaged by the spring-pawl e9 of the hand-lever o8. The locksegmentcasting C10 is bolted or otherwise secured to the main-valve-chestcasting, as clearly shown in Figs. l and The notches in the lock-segment010 are numbered from l to 6 in the same order or relation andcorresponding to the numbered ports of the main or charging valve h. Thelever c5 connects with the controlling-valve h by central rod C11.

The action of the power device is as follows: Suppose the main valve bis in its initial or iinal position, as shown in Fig. 1. Then the hand-lever o8 will be locked to the notch numbered G of the segment C10.This holds the main valve b, as hitherto noted, in its initial or filialposition, as required for coupling the charging valve mechanism to thecar, or bleeding the coupling-pipes, just before disconnecting the samefrom the car. When the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 1, thecontrolling-'valve h will be central, and the pressures in the chambersf and f2 of the main-valve chest will be equal, inasmuch as all threechambers fff2 are in communication through the ports g' and g2 of thevalveseat g and the cavity h of the controlling- Valve 7L. If now thehand-lever'c8 be moved toward the left one notch, so as to engage withthe notch numbered l in the segment cw, the first action will be tothrow the controlling-valve 7iy toward the left to the eXtreme of itstravel. This will uncover the righthand member of the ports g2, therebyopening the chamber j" in the main-valve chest to the atmosphere, whileat the same time the chamber f2 in the main-valve chest will be incommunication with the chamber f through the left-hand member of theports g2, the cavity 7i in vthe controlling-valve, and the port g in theseat g. Hence the pressure from the chamberf2 will become eifective onthe piston c2 to move the main or charging valve b toward the right onestep or into the position shown in Fig. 2. This step is limited by themovement of the controlling-valve toward the right by motion impartedfrom the chargingvalve b through the lever c5 and the rod cu. Otherwisestated, the initial movement of the controlling-valve 7L toward the leftwas imparted by the hand-lever C8 and the connections c5 c7 en, turningon the pin c4 as a fulerum, while the main valve Z) was held stationary.As quick as the hand-lever c8 became locked to the segment 010 the pinc6 became a fulcrum for the lever c5, thereby causing the movement ofthe main valve toward the right to carry with it the controlling-valve7i, through rod ou, back to its normal or central position. As quick asthe controllingvalve 7i is thus restored to its central position thecavity h' thereof will again connect all the ports g and g2 of the seatg, thereby equalizing the pressures in the chambers j" and f2 of themain-valve chest and instantly stopping the charging-valve b. The partsare so proportioned as to make this step of movement of thecharging-valve b exactly of the right length to correspond to thespacing between the numbered ports of the main-valve seat and thenumbered ports in the main valve. Otherwise stated, at the rst step ofthe main valves movement toward the right its inlet-port b5 will bebrought into registration with port No. l of the main-valve seat, andport No. l in the main valve will be .brought into registration with thedischarge or outlet port b3, leading to the car connection. In this waypower is rendered available at will for moving the main or chargingvalve Z2 toward the right undera step-by-step movement in successionuntil the compressorport 5 has been tapped. By then throwing thehand-lever cs toward the right, so as to engage the same with notch No.6 of the segment C10, the controlling-valve 7i will also be Jthrown tothe extreme right-hand limit of its travel. This will open the port g2at the left and the chamber f 2 in the chest to the atmosphere andrender the pressure in the chamber f' effective on the piston c' to movethe main Valve backward or toward the left into its initial or finalposition, as shown in Fig. l. On this returnor long stroke of the mainvalve the controlling-valve 7i is brought back, of course, to itscentral position, and this occurs before the extreme limit of the mainvalves travel toward the left, so as to restablish the pressure in thechamber f2 for stopping the main valve without jar and maintaining openconnections to the chamber f2. After the main valve has been thusreturned to its initial or Iinal position the port 6 in the valve willregister with the passage Z 3 in the seat, thereby rendering it possibleto bleed the car-coupling connections through the bleeding-ducts G G, ashitherto noted.

From the foregoing description it must be obvious that in virtue of theimprovement or invention herein disclosed the charging device disclosedin my prior patent hereinbefore identified is rendered operative bypower or air-pressure by a controlling device which IOO IIC

is of simple construction, which is reliable, and which is extremelyeasy and light to handle.

By actual usage I have demonstrated the efciency'of the mechanism hereindisclosed for the purposes had in view. Vith the use of the same I findthat the storage-reservoirs on the car may be quickly charged from thebattery of reservoirs and the compressor at the local charging-stationup to the pressure desired. The coupling and uncoupling connections arealso thereby rendered easy to make without noise.

It will be understood, of course, that the details of the constructionmight be changed without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I have illustrated and described my preferred form of power device; butit must be understood that I do not, in the broad point of view, limitmyself to the particular form herein shown. The duid-pressure might berendered available for operating the charg ing-valve by other forms ofair-motors, and

motors employing other agents might be employed. In all cases, however,manual action should render the power device operative to move thecharging-valve, and the movement of the charging-valve shouldautomatically render the power device operative to stop and hold thecharging-valve at the end of the valves predetermined step of requiredmovement.

In this specification and claims I use the expression power device, asin its popular usage, to denote any device for utilizing motive forcesor agents other than human-such, for example, as fluids orelectricity-and by the term controller7 I mean to denote a valve,switch, or other equivalent device for controlling the action of thepower device employed.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is as follows:

l. The combination with a charging-valve and valve-seat having theirlports arranged for tapping a series of supply-reservoirs or othersources, in succession, under a step-bystep movement of the valve, of apower device, for operating said charging-valve, and a controlling-valvefor the power device, both the controlling-valve and power device beingconnected to a common lever, and ports and passages arrangedsubstantially as described, whereby7 movement of the controllin g-valvewill cause the power device to move said charging-valve and the movementof the charging-valve will automatically restore the controlling-valveto its normal position and cause the power device to stop thechargingvalve, at the end of its predetermined step of movement,substantially as described.

2. The combination with a charging-valve and valve-chest, of pistons onthe chargingvalve rod within said chest, a controllingvalve andvalve-seat with ports arranged for the application of fluid-pressure toeither or to both of said pistons, and manipulating connections, forsaid controlling-valve, so arranged that said controlling-valve maybeset, by hand, for applying pressure to move the charging-valve, and willbe set automatically, by the charging-valve, for applying pressure tostop the charging-valve, at the end of its predetermined step ofmovement, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a charging-valve and valve-seat, with theirports arranged for drawing the charge from a series of supplyreservoirsor other sources7 in succession, unlder a step-by-step movement of thechargingvalve, of a fluid-pressure power device, for operating saidcharging-valve, including a controlling-valve normally rendering thepressure operative to hold the charging -valve wherever set, and ahand-lever with connections to both of said valves, so arranged that thecontrolling-valve may be set by hand, for rendering lthe pressureoperative to move the charging-valve, and that the movement of thecharging-valve will, automatically, restore the controlling-valve to itsnormal position, for rendering the pressure operative to stop and holdthe charging-valve, at the end of its predetermined step of movement,substantially as described.

4. The combination with the charging-valve and valve-chest, of thepistons c, .c2 on the valve-rod Within the chest, the central chest--chamber f always open to valve-chest fluidpressure, t-he chambers f andf2 outward of said pistons, the controlling-seat g with the central portg leading from said central chamber f and with the air-ports g2 leading,one to each of the chambers f and f2, the controlling-valve h on saidseat g, and provided with the cavity h spanning all of said ports whenthe valve is central, and the manipulating connections c5, o', o8, c11and lock-segment ow, all arranged and coperat-ing, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ROBT. HARDIE. [L s] IVitnesses:

HUGH RosE, E. G. OSTERMANN.

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